page_title: Galaxy Airlines Flight 203
section_title: Investigation
hierarchical_section_title: Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 / Investigation
caption_attribution_description: English: Air stair access door in Electra L-188
context_page_description: Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 was a Lockheed L-188 Electra 4-engine turboprop, registration N5532, operating as a non-scheduled charter flight from Reno, Nevada to Minneapolis, Minnesota, which crashed on January 21, 1985 shortly after takeoff. All but one of the 71 on board died.
context_section_description: The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the probable cause of the accident was
  the captain's failure to control and the copilot's failure to monitor the flight path and airspeed of the aircraft. This breakdown in crew coordination followed the onset of unexpected vibration shortly after takeoff ... Contributing to the accident was the failure of ground handlers to properly close an air start access door, which led to the vibration.
  The NTSB found that ground handlers did not properly close the air start access door due to an interruption in their procedures: when a supervisor realized that the headset used for communication with the flight crew was not working, he switched to using hand signals mid-routine. In the confusion the supervisor signaled the flight to taxi before the air start hose had been disconnected. After the supervisor realized his error and signaled the flight crew to make an emergency stop, the hose was successfully disconnected but the air start access door was not closed.
  The report concluded that the open access door caused vibrations which distracted the pilots, though they would likely not have prevented the aircraft from reaching cruise speed and altitude – there had been reports from other Electra pilots that the vibrations ceased at higher air speeds. The pilots reduced power to all four engines simultaneously, presumably to see whether they were the source of the vibrations, and did not restore power quickly enough to prevent a stall.
caption: Air start door location (from NTSB report).
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